Tag Archives : History

It is an event that neither Hong Kong, China nor Britain are likely to be celebrating. Nevertheless, on this day (January 26th) in 1841, the British flag was first unfurled at Possession Point by Royal Navy sailors.

Built with red bricks and granite, the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower peaks at 44 metres and once dominated Victoria Harbour. It is now all that remains of the old Kowloon station on the waterfront. Below is Victoria Terminus exactly 100 years ago, a few years after the line itself opened in 1910…

Rickshaws await new arrivals – 1914. Click to enlarge – via Flickr

The plan for the terminus was finalised in 1904, but World War I delayed construction…

Eu Tong Sen was a well-known tycoon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with business interests across Southeast Asia. He was also vice-president of the Anti-Opium Society and a somewhat eccentric property owner. Heir to his family’s retail and mining businesses, he took control of his father’s estate in 1898. Over the decades that followed, he multiplied his fortune several times over. By age 30, he was one of the region’s richest men, specialising in the tin mining and rubber industries.

via Aeste on Flickr

Eu built three castles in Hong Kong – Eucliffe was the most well-known. It was famous for being a social hot spot in the 1930s and was located next door to the Kadoorie’s Repulse Bay Hotel. The folly featured a large collection of ancient western armour as well as stained glass windows.

It was the night that the frightened old men of the Chinese government chose to ‘kill the kids instead of change’. Under one-party rule, the same men remain in power today and continue to pretend the Tiananmen massacre never happened. In Hong Kong, that night in Tiananmen Square has not been erased – a record turnout is expected at Wednesday night’s vigil in Victoria Park at 8pm (click for details). Hong Wrong will have full coverage of the event during this 25th anniversary.

Around 1.5 million Hong Kongers gathered in late May, 1989 to show solidarity with protesters in Tiananmen Square…

Statue Square, Hong Kong, May, 1989

…Meanwhile, in Beijing, thousands of students, workers and hunger strikers were demonstrating against corruption, inflation and the lack of civil liberties under one-party rule. The photos below show the days and weeks in the run-up to the notorious crackdown on June 4th.

Since 1956, highly acclaimed Chinese photographer Fan Ho has won over 280 awards from various exhibitions and competitions around the world. Largely self-taught, he is best known for documenting HK during the boom years in the 50s and 60s. Ho was born in Shanghai and developed a fascination with cities – exploring urban life, alleyways, markets, slums and streets with his camera.